Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

University of Hawaii at Mānoa Begins Construction on Student Housing Facility

  • By Matt Jones
  • 10/26/23

The University of Hawaii at Mānoa in Honolulu, Hawaii, recently completed the first phase of construction on a new housing facility for graduate students, according to a university news release. Groundbreaking for the Residences for Graduate Students took place on Oct. 4, and the project will cost an estimated $170 million.

The facility will consist of two buildings, 18 stories and 12 stories, and house more than 550 graduate students, their families, and junior faculty members. The space will also include amenities like study rooms, a café retail space, a childcare facility, and more, the news release reports. The facility is scheduled to open its doors in fall 2025.

“Our graduate students here at Mānoa, like every other major research university, perform a lot of the actual work behind the discoveries that we make and push out to good use in the community,” said Michael Bruno, UH Mānoa Provost, at the groundbreaking ceremony. “This project, for the first time, will give them a residence on campus so that they can become more integrated into our campus community and feel like they are a really valued member of our community.”

The project is the second major public-private partnership (P3) on the university’s campus. UH Mānoa partnered with Greystar Real Estate Partners, which is developing and managing the property. Greystar also selected Swinerton Builders for the project’s construction.

“In Hawaii, we hear a lot of rhetoric about P3s,” said Kalbert Young, UH Vice President for Budget and Finance/CFO. “I have heard a lot of politicians, government officials, business leaders, talk about the need for P3s in Hawaii literally for decades, and yet, I am challenged to think of any other project that is a true bonafide P3. And us here today, I think we can take a sense of pride in recognizing, we are talking about groundbreaking on the second public-private partnership at the University of Hawaii in less than three years.”

The university’s first P3 project, the Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE), opened to students in August 2023.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Photo courtesy of Kraus-Anderson

    Minnesota District Completes $49.7M Addition, Renovation Project

    St. Paul Public Schools in St. Paul, Minn., recently announced the completion of a $49.7-million addition and remodeling project at two district schools, according to a news release.

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Acquires VPS Architecture

    Full-service planning, architecture, and engineering firm Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has acquired VPS Architecture, according to a news release. The move will help strengthen Wold’s education and public-sector design expertise, industries in which both companies have strong pre-existing ties and relationships.

  • Arizona District Breaks Ground on Community Training, Learning Center

    The Tolleson Union High School District (TUHSD) in Tolleson, Ariz., recently broke ground on a new Training & Learning Center (TLC) for both district professionals and the community at large, according to a news release. The 90,000-square-foot facility has an estimated completion date of spring 2027.